


In the End

by thereisnowyou



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Abuse, Canonical Character Death, Canonical Child Abuse, Canonical Rape/Non-con, Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Non-Canonical Violence, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29120577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thereisnowyou/pseuds/thereisnowyou
Summary: My spin on what happens at the end of 11x5, big 11x5 spoilers if you haven't seen the episode already!After Ian and Mickey come home to find the product of Liam's actions everyone in the Gallagher family, Mickey and Sandy included, have to figure out how to cope with the pain of the past, the pain of now and figure out how they're going to move on while protecting those they love the most.
Relationships: Debbie Gallagher & Sandy Milkovich, Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Lip Gallagher/Tami Tamietti
Comments: 3
Kudos: 88





	1. The Body

It had been a little over two hours since Liam had shot that shot into the sky, he had not gone outside since, hadn’t even left his room where he had spent the last two hours pacing and panicking after having just shot a gun. No one was home and so he just stayed holed up in him room waiting for one of his siblings to come home.

Ian and Mickey were the first one’s home and Liam could hear the screaming outside his window.

Ian and Mickey had been having a pretty good day all things considered. It was the kind of day that had them both feeling like teenagers who were absolutely drunk in love again. So, in hindsight it was only fighting that Terry ruin their day. They were walking up to the house when Ian saw him first, Mickey was talking about guns, beyond excited to get Ian one, when Ian stopped dead in his tracks. Mickey turned around giving his husband a face, wondering why he had decided the sidewalk was a good place to stop when they were ten feet from the house. Ian just pointed at house next door where his family had recently taken up residency.

Mickey slowly turned and that was when he saw him there, lying on the ground in a pool of blood. A million thoughts raced through his head all at once. He turned back to Ian, “we have to leave town.”

“Mickey, what? No!” 

“They’re gonna think we did it, we have to leave. We have to go man, they’re gonna pin it on us”

Ian walked over to Mickey and grabbed him by the shoulders, “Mick, calm down. We’re gonna call the cops and explain exactly what happened and since we didn’t do anything wrong, this will be fine.”

“Ian that’s not how this shit fucking works I’m a Milkovich!”

“Do you trust me?”

Mickey looked at Ian, annoyed because of course he trusted Ian and of course Ian was right but everything in him said run.

“Thank you,” Ian said, kissing Mickey’s head and pulling out his phone to call the police. Once they had been called, he shot off a text in the family group chat that had everyone there outside the house with Ian and Mickey in under ten minutes. The cops had been there in five. 

Lip and Tami had shown up with Fred, Lip asking Ian very quietly if either he or Mickey had done it. Carl came home from work just to feel like he was at work, and he did just as Lip had done in asking if Ian or Mickey had done it. When Debbie got there, with Franny, she was in total shock and after asking the same questions her brothers had, she realized she should probably call Sandy and tell her even though that whole situation was so complicated.

All of the Milkoviches were outside, there was no tears being shed but a panic could be felt all the way from where the Gallagher's stood. Terry was the leader, he called the shots. Hell, he was how they were in the house. There was also an anger, someone had killed him and god help who ever that was.

The police bagged up the body and asked Mickey and Ian if they both could give their statements, they both agreed even though they were extremely nervous to do so. 

“So Mr. Milkovich-“

“Mickey, please”

“So, Mickey, the deceased is your father?”

“Yeah but uh he’d rather kill me than have a dead son so we stay out of each other’s way.”

“And you two are married?”

“Correct.”

“And you were just coming home from work and found him like that?”

“Yeah, we were just walking up to the house and I saw him lying there.”

“Alright, we may have more questions but that’s it for tonight”

“alright, thank you”

They walked over to the other Gallagher's and once all the cops had left, they shuffled into the house. Liam was standing in the living room looking at them with wide eyes.

“I killed Terry Milkovich”


	2. At All Costs

They all looked at Liam with wide eyes before Lip spoke up, “Bud, Terry got shot and Ian and Mickey found him in a pool of his own blood, you didn’t do that. You don’t even have a gun”

“I do, and that’s how I killed him but I didn’t mean to”

“Where did you get a gun?” Ian asked starting to turn towards Mickey.

“Hey I didn’t give the kid a gun.”

“it was me.”

“Carl! You gave our eleven year old brother a fucking gun!”

“Calm down dude, you act like we all didn’t have one when we were his age”

Lip’s face told him that he was right. They all turned their attention back to Liam who was still visibly shaken.

“I didn’t mean to kill him, I just shot it into the sky because I wanted to scare them off because I was so sick of living in fear. Then I went upstairs, and I was freaking out because I just shot a fucking gun. Then I heard Ian and Mickey come home and I heard them yelling and I realized what I had done.”

“Alright bud, okay so uh you go upstairs and try and get some sleep and then we’ll talk in the morning okay,” Lip said, rubbing at his face and sighing.

“Okay”

They all hugged Liam and sent him up to bed before congregating at the kitchen table to figure out what the fuck to do.

“We have to turn him in,” Tami said.

All the Gallagher’s looked at her like she had three heads.

“He murdered someone, what are you guys going to do? Find a way to protect him?”

“We are not going to turn in our eleven year old baby brother who just accidentally killed a fucking Nazi with an unregistered gun, and don’t forget Liam is black. That’s not happening. He is the only one of us here that doesn’t have a record and I think we can all agree we want to keep it that way.”

“Lip’s right,” Ian said. We have to protect him. He’s the only one who has any shot of escaping this shit hole. Poor kid was afraid for his life, with good reason,” Ian said, knowing first hand how horrid of a human Terry was.

“Are you guy’s seriously telling me you’re gonna cover this up? Someone is dead”

“Terry was my own fucking dad and I’m mostly just jealous Liam did it before I could.”

Ian shot Mickey a look.

“Relax Ian he’s dead so now I can’t do anything that will land me back in prison”

“Listen Tami, I know this is all new to you, the Gallagher way, but you would do anything for Cami or Courtney and we’re no different.”

At that Tami gave Lip a look, he knew how close she and her sisters were and the fact that she would literally kill for them. 

“Okay, I’m in. what’s the plan.”

“Carl, how traceable do you think that gun is?”

“Not very, I bought it off someone who bought it off someone when I was like nine.”

“Alright, tomorrow we’ll get it from Liam and then throw it in the river tomorrow night.”

“Thankfully, Terry was well a Milkovich so they won’t investigate too much, no offense Mick. So as long as we just keep our mouths shut we should be fine.”

Everyone nodded and agreement and after a couple more minutes Lip and Tami decided to head home for the night. Carl decided to head upstairs to check on Liam because they all kind of knew that he wasn’t sleeping. 

Just as Ian and Mickey were about to head upstairs though, Sandy came in the door, looking beyond stressed and maybe even emotional.

“Is your dad really dad?”

“Yeah he fucking is”

Sandy ran over to Mickey hugging him.   
“You’re finally free”


	3. Buzzing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major trigger warning for mentions of abuse and sexual abuse, most of it is canon/ canon adjacent or like very much implied or believable based on what we have already been told and nothing is super graphic but it is mentioned.

It was past midnight but every room in the Gallagher house was buzzing with voices and anxiety and relief.

Debbie and Sandy made their way up to her room and they laid down on the bed, Sandy clearly still in absolute shock. 

“I can’t believe he’s dead.”

“Are you upset?”

“No, well maybe? Yes because of that part of me that’s loyal to my family but then the part of me who knows how awful he is, that part is glad.”

“He was a pretty awful person.”

“He was the worst, he was so bad to Mickey growing up. He’s my mom’s brother but she died when I was so young that I was practically raised by Terry. He beat on Mickey worse than any of us.”

“Why?”

“I think he knew Mickey was different.”

“Like gay?”

“Kind of? Mickey puts out this hard don’t fuck with me exterior but he’s one of the most caring people I know. He’s always been more sensitive than the rest of us, more emotional. Terry beat it out of him best he could but it was no match for Ian.”

**

Ian closed the door to their room, rubbing his face and sighing. He and Mickey made quick work of getting into pajamas and silently getting into bed. Ian wasn’t sure what to say and honestly Mickey wasn’t either. So, for a few minutes they just laid there, Ian’s arm around Mickey pulling him close, running his fingers through Mickey’s dark hair and occasionally kissing his temple.

“Is it bad that I’m kind of upset?”

“I don’t think so no.”

“He was a horrible person.”

“Yeah, he was.”

“I’m upset but I’m kind of glad. Now I don’t have to worry that he’ll hurt you or someone else in the family.”

“Mick-“ 

“I’ve been afraid since our wedding day, maybe he’d try and hurt you to get back at me and I’m so thankful to not to have to live with that fear anymore.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too Gallagher, more than you’ll ever know.”

Ian pulled Mickey as close to him as he possibly could. He had had conflicting feelings when his mom had died but he knew that this was a completely different world of emotions and confusion that Mickey was going through. He wasn’t sure if he should pry but he also couldn’t get his mind away from the questions he had, how little he really knew about Mickey’s childhood.   
“Mick, what was your childhood like?”

**

Sandy turned over in bed, she was facing away from Debbie and staring at the wall. Debbie wasn’t the greatest at reading the room but she could tell there was a lot on her maybe girlfriends mind. 

“What was it like for you, being raised by Terry?” She knew it was a gamble to ask, Milkoviches weren’t exactly the most forthcoming but she knew some of what Mandy had gone through, so she figured she’d try.  
“He was shit, you heard Mickey talk about it a little on their wedding day. He beat on us all, it was a little different with Mandy and me. He was the first man who ever hurt me, hell when Mick and I were young we’d fool around because out whole lives drunk men were coming into our beds and violating what little trust we had in the world. It was all we knew and Mickey and I never hurt each other but we didn’t know it was wrong. I was maybe seven the first time Uncle Terry came in.”

“Fuck Sandy, I’m sorry.”

“It’s just life being a Milkovich. Honestly neverminded being locked up, it meant I was away from them all. Mickey was the same way, he only started minding it when Ian came into the picture because he wanted to be with him so bad. But me? Never minded, even after I was married off I’d rather be locked up.”

“Christ”

“It wasn’t much of a childhood but it was what I had.” Sandy shrugged, trying to play off her indifference but Debbie could hear the tears in her voice and carefully moved to hold her in her arms, fer once realizing maybe being a Gallagher wasn’t half bad.

**  
Being a Gallagher had never been easy, none of them had it easy but for Carl, sitting there holding his ten year old brother who had just killed his brother in law’s Nazi father he realized just how fucked everyone on the southside was. 

He knew ethicallyhe should turn Liam in but he wasn’t going to. Hell if Mickey had done it he wouldn’t have either. Terry was someone who maybe deserved what he got. He believed in justice and after everything Carl had seen since he was ten between his brother and Mickey, he was pretty sure justice had been served. Still he was worried as hell about Liam. Liam was a good kid, not the kind of kid who would just get over killing someone, even if that someone was Terry Milkovich.

“He bud, listen, you’re okay, this is going to be okay.”

“Carl, I killed a man.”

Carl knew Liam didn’t know just how bad Terry was and even though he hated airing his brother’s dirty laundry he figured the kid had a right to know what good he had just done.

“Dude Terry is a fucking Nazi who had his son raped for being gay and molested his own daughter. He’s one of the worst people in this entire city and I know nothing I can say will fully make this better, but he’s hurt SO many people and Mickey is someone he’s hurt more than anyone else. When Mickey came out, he beat the shit out of him and Ian. Killing someone isn’t great but if anyone deserved it, it was him.”

“You know Carl, you might not be the brightest but you know what to say sometimes.”

Carl was pretty sure he had just been insulted but he took the fact that Liam had stopped crying as a win. 

“I know he did a lot of bad, but do you think Mickey might still be mad at me for what I did?”

**

“It was a shit childhood just like everyone else’s Ian, I don’t know what you think it would’ve been.”

“You just, you never talk about it Mick. I know what I’ve seen and what Mandy told me and the little things you’ve let slip here and there but that’s it. That’s all I know.”  
Mickey shifted so he was turned away, not looking at Ian and Ian could tell his defenses were up as high as they went when it came to Ian.  
“He was awful, abusive. Svetlana wasn’t the first, just the first time he had concrete proof, but he always knew I was different, could sense that I wasn’t just like him. my mom protected me till she died when I was six. She over dosed and I found her, little six year old me calling the cops and getting beat for doing it after the fact. We weren’t aloud to cry that she was dead. and Terry burned all her shit, burned her from our lives. I guess it probably wasn’t all that accidental of an overdose if I had to guess, whether she planned it or just didn’t stop it when she went too far. I was five the first time one of Terry’s gross drunk friends touched me and twelve the first time Terry had me raped.”

“Mick-“ Ian didn’t even know what to say or what he had expecting but nothing this bad, he always knew Terry was bad but the thought of Mickey going through all of this, broke something in him. 

“He hated me, out of the four of us I was both the prize and the punching bag. Mandy was the only girl, so she was her own category, but Iggy and Colin were fucking dumb, I’ve always been good with numbers so I was the perfect son for the family business but I was also the one who required the most beatings because I just wasn’t quite man enough for him.” 

Ian didn’t know what to say and he didn’t really think there were any words to use in this situation, so he just wrapped his arms around Mickey and pulled him into his chest. He had no idea how Mickey had survived half of the shit that he had but in that moment, he had never been more thankful that Terry was dead and decided he would spend every day for the rest of his life healing the wounds Terry had made to the man who he loved more than he loved himself.


	4. Cigarette Breaks

The next morning came and for a split second Mickey was able to forget everything that had happened the day before, his father was dead and Ian knew everything he had tried so hard to hide from him for the last ten years. He knew Ian wouldn’t run, would never leave him, still he hated exposing those parts of himself, all of the dark and twisty and sad parts.

He’d survived it all, a childhood with a father like Terry, he had survived it and now here he was laying in his husband’s arms. Still, he found himself, wrapped in Ian’s arms thinking about how close he had come to not escaping. It was early and Ian was still asleep, and he was left there to think about every blow, physical and emotional that he had been hit with. He thought about every man who ever hurt him or his sister or his cousin.

Something in him couldn’t believe that the monster that was Terry was just gone, something he never had to worry about again. All at the hand of his eleven year old brother in law who was simply scared for his life. A feeling Mickey was all too familiar with. He wasn’t mad at Liam, something he was going to be sure to make very very clear to the kid. He was scared and just trying to survive, and Mickey understood that more than he’d ever let Liam know. 

Mickey’s thoughts had drifted him back to sleep by the time Ian woke up a few hours later. He looked over at Mickey who was turned to face him. he looked so peaceful when he slept and for a moment Ian forget his brother had killed a man and all of the awful things his husband had gone through as a child. 

There were many mornings when Ian had woken up like he did today, unsure of his next steps and what the future held. Still one thing prevailed over every fear he had and that was that family came before everything and keeping Liam and Mickey both safe from the Milkoviches was his number one priority.

Ian wasn’t alone with his thoughts for long before Mickey woke again and quickly cuddled into Ian’s chest, Ian placing a kiss into his dark hair. For a while they stayed like that, silent and just holding each other. But this was the Gallagher house, and it didn’t take long for Carl and Debbie to start screaming at each other, over what was anyone’s guess. Ian and Mickey both sighed and got up going to head down stairs and make coffee because they were definitely going to need a lot of it to get through the day. 

It wasn’t long before Lip was coming in and grabbing a cup along with Sandy who was getting as far away from Debbie and Carl’s screaming match as possible.

Lip motioned upstairs, “Uh why the screaming match?”

Ian shrugged, “I dunno man they do this like daily, that’s why you don’t have kids eight months apart.”

Sandy and Mickey both looked at Ian confused.

“Did you guys think any of us were products of healthy drug free pregnancies that didn’t come months early?”

“That’s fair,” Sandy said shrugging and Mickey nodded too.

“Monica and Frank’s stellar parenting aside, has anyone talked to Liam?”

“Uh Just Carl, Mick and I went to bed last night and Carl went to talk to him.”

“Okay, when he comes down, I’ll ask him to get us the gun and we can go from there.”

The other three nodded in agreement. Sandy hit Mickey’s arm as she was on her way outside to smoke. He jumped up to follow her out. Lip and Ian both looked at each other confused but the two Milkoviches just walked out and sat on the porch. 

They both sat and Sandy lit both of their cigarettes. It was silent for a few moments, both of them thankful to be away from the Gallagher sibling screams.

“Debbie asked, about my childhood, our childhood, with Terry.”

“Ian did too.”

“You’d never told him?”

“Never, I didn’t want to tell anyone ever really. ‘Specially not Ian, thee Gallagher's are fucked, we both know that, but they aren’t Milkovich fucked up.”

“I think about it a lot, how different my life would have been if I didn’t grow up the way we did. Imagine that? A normal childhood with love and family and no one who’s supposed to love you hurting you instead?”

“There’s a part of me that wants that, I mean I guess we have it now with these crazies but when I think back, our upbringing it a lot of what brought me to Ian. It would have been a hell of lot easier those first couple years if things with Terry were different, would’ve saved me a lot of pain and I hurt Ian so much too. Still in the end, it all brought me to where I am now.”

“I’ll never admit it to any of them, especially Debbie, but I do really love them all. Especially Franny, never thought I’d fall for a girl with a kid and actually love the kid too.”

“Gallagher's will do that to you, 'specially the ginger one’s.”


	5. Before he killed you...or me

Ian and Mickey got a call not long after Mickey and Sandy had come in, the cops asking them to come down to the station and answer some questions about the night before. Neither of them wanted to go but they knew they had to oblige especially since they were on parole. So here they were on their way to the police station.

Ian intertwined his hand with Mickey’s as they walked in the doors. Of course a handful of his cousins were there too, they all looked strung out and like they had no idea what to do with themselves now that they had no leader. Maybe they’d make something of their lives Mickey thought to himself, internally chuckling at the thought. They didn’t interact with any of them as they walked over to the front desk and they were ushered over to a desk with a detective who looked they quickly both could tell was new.

“Hi uh I’m detective Arianna Grey, I’m working your father’s case. I am so so sorry about your loss. It must have been so hard for you to find him like that.”

Ian and Mickey both just looked at each other, Mickey’s eyebrows were raised to his hairline and Ian kneed him under the desk to behave.

“Uh listen I mean thank you, but my father wasn’t exactly dad of the year, he’s been trynna kill me since I was nineteen.”  
Detective Grey’s eyes went wide, no one had really told her much when she took the case, they just kind of laughed at her blind optimism. 

“Oh uh could you, could you tell me more about your dad?”

“He was a lifelong criminal spent more time in jail then out and he was a Nazi, a racist, and homophobic as shit. He shot up our honey moon, beat the shit out of me when I came out. He had a lot of enemies and honestly it was only a matter of time before someone popped him. Hell, for a while I wanted to but I’d rather kill him from the inside being happy with Ian.”

“Okay thank you, and could you tell me what happened last night?”

“Uh yeah, Mick and I were coming home, and we were walking towards our house when we saw him lying there so I called the police. I used to be an EMT, but I knew by looking at him that he was too far gone for me to save him.”

“Alright thank you, I’ll call if I have any other questions.”

**

Mickey and Ian had been home for a few hours when Liam came down with the gun. They were sitting at the table with Lip, Debbie and Sandy. Carl was at work but had agreed to go with Lip and Mickey that night to dump the gun. 

Liam placed the gun on the table and sat down. Immediately all of his siblings and their partners were silent. Liam was still so visibly shaken. He looked over at Mickey and Sandy who were next to each other with their respective Gallagher on either side.

“I’m sorry for killing your dad and uncle. I know you hated him and he was a bad person but still I am sorry. Even if you wanted him dead actually having him dead is very different.”

Mickey sighed and looked at Liam, “Look kid, it’s okay. Terry abused me and my siblings and Sandy everyday of our lives until we could finally escape. What you did, I know it’s eating at you because you are such a good kid, but I need you to know that you did the world a favor. You killed him before he killed you or me or Ian.”

Liam was crying and so were his siblings even though Lip would never admit that Mickey’s words had made him cry. He didn’t know what to do about the youngest Gallagher and how to help him. he was the first of them to actually kill someone. But he just thought back to helping Mandy raise the money for her abortion all those years ago and all the times that Ian came home bloody at Terry’s hand and he knew Mickey was right. If Liam hadn’t killed him he would’ve killed Liam, or Ian or Mickey and he realized he wouldn’t handle any of those deaths well.


End file.
